Heater



NOV. 24, 1936.- YJ. HUTTON v 42,061,873l l HEATER File'd April l, 1952 Patented Nov. 24, 1936 UNITED STATES- PAT NT FFEQ Application April 1, 1932, Serial No. 602,446

. In Canada July 2, 1931 1 Claim.

The invention relates to improvements in automobile heaters and particularly to a heater for heating the firing mixture in the intake manifold and an object of the invention is to provide a heater which can be constructed at ycomparatively small cost and readily introduced on the engine and which embodies a burner mounted adjacent the intake manifold and adapted to burn gasoline and provided with electrical means for igniting the gasoline and also means for readily controlling the amount of gasoline fed to the burner, it being understood that the heat radiated by the burner is utilized to heat the firing mixture passed through the intake manifold to the engine and that the heater is only used as and when desired, such as for starting purposes.

A further object is to provide a construction controlled by a suitable finger piece on the dash of the car and arranged such that a single opera- 20 tion admits a desired limited quantity of gasoline to the burner and at the same time effects an electric spark to ignite the gasoline.

With the above more important and other minor objects in view which will become more apparent as the description proceeds, the invention consists essentially in the arrangement and construction of parts hereinafter more particularly described, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, in which:-

Fig. l is a side View of the device.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged detailed vertical sectional view longitudinally through the device, certain parts being shown in side elevation.

' Fig. 3 is an enlarged detailed cross sectional view at 3 3 Figure 2. f l

Fig. 4 is a detailed view showing the sliding plate, spring associated therewith and other adjacent parts.

In the drawing like characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures.

I have only considered it necessary to herein show those parts of an automobile with which my device is immediately associated and in this 45 regard l represents the intake manifold having the inlet pipe 2 leading to the carburetor 3 which is fed with gasolinevthrough the pipe 4 from the well known vacuum tank 5, the vacuum tank receiving its supply through the pipe 6 from the well known gasoline tank not herein shown. The dash of the automobile is indicated at 1.

In colder countries, difficulty is experienced in starting an automobile as the gasoline does not effectively vaporize and the invention herein disclosed is provided for the purpose of effectively Vaporizing the gasoline in the pipe 2 at the time of starting, the heat being generated in a gasoline burner to which a quantity of gasoline is fed and subsequently ignited, the radiated heat heating the manifold.

The burner casing may be of any suitable design and is herein shown as a pipe of suitable length and diameter detachably fastened by upper and lower clamps 9 and l@ to the pipe 2 of the manifold, the pipe 8 being close to the manifold for effective heating purposes. The upper and lower ends of the pipe are closed by an applied base il and a cap l2, the base being provided with a restricted drip opening i3 and the cap with a somewhat larger opening lll to permit of the escape of fumes.

Centrally within the lower end of the pipe 8, I locate a cup l5 which is suitably Supported by a stand I6 mounted on the base Il and a feed pipe ll passes upwardly through the bottom Il, stand it and cup l5 and feeds to a small pan I8 within the cup. A pipe i9 communicates through a valve 20 with the pipe Il and leads to the vacuum tank 5, gasoline being in this way supplied to the burner from the vacuum tank upon the valve 20 being opened. This valve is of well known design being open when the valve stem 2l is turned from its closed position.

On one side of the casing, I mount for vertical sliding movement, a plate 22 which is held normally in a down position by a coil spring 23 connected to a pin 2li extending from the plate and to a pin 25 secured to the base.

This plate carries a negative terminal 26 which is permanently secured thereto and passes into the pipe 8 through a vertical slot 21 provided and said terminal has its inner end forked as indicated at 28. A vertical guide bar 29 is secured permanently to the cup and slidably enters the fork and insures that there will be no lateral play of the forked end of the terminal within the pipe. l

A positive terminal 30 enters the pipe 8 through an opening 3l provided in the pipe and is carried by a strip of insulating material 32 operating to effectively insulate the terminal 30 from the pipe and other adjacent parts. The inner end of the positive terminal is located a short distance above the inner forked end of the negative terminal and said positive terminal has its inner end terminating in an up turned finger 33 adapted to pass between the tips of the forks when the negative terminal is raised. The negative terminal is electrically grounded to the car in the well known manner and the positive terminal is connected by an insulating wire 34 to a source of electromotive force such as a battery, one side of which is also grounded to the car.

The lower end of the plate 22 is shaped to provide an inclined face 22' which is adapted to be engaged by a striker arm 35 secured to the valve stem 2|, the arrangement being such that when the striker arm is swung in one direction, it causes the plate 22 to rise and When swung in the opposite direction allows the plate 22 to slide down under the action of the spring 23. An operating rod 36 leads from the valve stern to the dash 1 and is provided at the dash end with a finger piece 3'! such as an operating lever, the lever being positioned within convenient range of the automobile driver.

Assuming that the valve is closed When the lever 3l is pointing upwardly, then said valve will be fully open when such lever is lying hori- Zontally. When the valve is closed, the striker arm is in a horizontal position and as the valve is approaching its fully open position, the striker arm engages with and lifts the plate 22 which results in the forked terminal rising to and sweeping along the finger 33 of the positive terminal and causing electric sparks which are utilized to ignite the gasoline. After the valve has been fully opened, it is gradually closed and shortly after it starts to close, the negative contact passes away from the positive.

The arrangement of the various parts is such that during the interval that the valve is slowly opening and slowly closed, a sufficient quantity of gasoline will have passed into the burner to keep the burner burning for say about ten minutes time. This gasoline flows rst into the pan and then iioods over into the cup and as the pan is quite close to the contacting terminals,

it is readily ignited by the sparks from the terminals during the relatively short intervals said terminals are passing one another. The burning gasoline will effectively heat the pipe 8 and such heat will be radiated to the area containing the pipe 2 to effectively heat the firing mixture when the engine is started and the same is drawn into the cylinders through the intake manifold.

While I have given a detailed description of the various parts, it will be readily understood they can be modified without departing from the spirit of the invention as set forth in the accompanying claim.

A suitable peep hole can be provided for observation purposes and to avoid the possibility of flooding the burner, the support I6 is provided with a -drain hole 38 so that any gasoline flooding over the cup can escape out through the holes 38 and I3.

With a little experience, one will quickly learn how to operate this device and there should be no occasion for flooding gasoline over the cup.

What claim as my invention is:-

In a liquid fuel burner comprising a casing and fue-l injecting means including an inlet valve within said casing, means within said casing for igniting fuel injected into said casing comprising an elongated stationary positive terminal extending within said casing, a movable forked negative terminal within said casing normaily in opposed and spaced relationship to said positive terminal, means for moving the forks of said negative terminal into sliding Contact along either side of the positive terminal and positive and negative leads attached to the respective terminals.

JOHN BUTTON. 

